Burt 1992 (Structural Holes) / 2004 (AJS) — brokers spanning holes between groups capture information-arbitrage advantage

Claim: Burt extended Granovetter's architecture. Information and behaviour are more homogeneous within groups than between them; brokers who span the "structural holes" between groups capture an information-arbitrage advantage. From Burt's data at a large American electronics company: "compensation, positive performance evaluations, promotions, and good ideas are disproportionately in the hands of people whose networks span structural holes."

Sources:

• Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition. Harvard University Press.
• Burt, R. S. (2004). "Structural Holes and Good Ideas." American Journal of Sociology 110(2), 349–399. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/421787

Confidence: Verified (in US white-collar setting). Cross-domain mapping to Canadian trades is Directional.

For Candid — who are the brokers in Ontario trades? Three roles consistently appear: suppliers' outside sales reps who call on dozens of GCs across a region; specialist subcontractors (excavation, foundation, structural) who work across many GCs; peer-coach implementers (BTA, EOS facilitators) who sit across multiple clients' financials and meetings.

For a relationship-led sales motion, brokers are the highest-yield introduction sources — not the highest-yield testimonial sources (that's strong ties) but the highest-yield warm-intro sources because of their reach across clusters. See [[brokers-in-ontario-trades-three-roles]].